This depends on the species. “Easy care” ants like big-headed ants and pavement ants typically don’t mind if you check on them often, as long as you do not turn, bump, or shake the tube. It is best to place them in a position that allows for you to view them without picking up the tube, such as simply opening up a box and looking in, or lifting up a cloth that covers the tube. Some ants, like bull ants and other semi-Claustral ants, are much more sensitive to disturbance and can eat their eggs or die if they are disturbed too often, so keep disturbances to a couple times a week at the most for these ant types.
toolTips('.classtoolTips0','The method of establishing a new colony, in which a queen sequesters herself in a small chamber and hatches the first generation of workers, nourishing them primarily on stored body fat. The queens will not forage for food, and do not require feeding until the first generation is hatched');